ARK Investment Management LLC Acquires 249 Shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG)

ARK Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ:GOOG) by 0.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 128,334 shares of the information services provider’s stock after buying an additional 249 shares during the period. ARK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Alphabet were worth $24,440,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. lifted its position in shares of Alphabet by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Sterling Financial Planning Inc. now owns 1,941 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 50 shares during the last quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC raised its stake in Alphabet by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Arlington Trust Co LLC now owns 14,423 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $2,747,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Harrell Investment Partners LLC now owns 5,659 shares of the information services provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Alphabet by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,073 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $966,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tempus Wealth Planning LLC grew its holdings in shares of Alphabet by 1.7% during the 4th quarter. Tempus Wealth Planning LLC now owns 3,337 shares of the information services provider’s stock valued at $636,000 after purchasing an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 27.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Benchmark reissued a “negative” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Wednesday, February 5th. Phillip Securities raised Alphabet to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating on shares of Alphabet in a report on Wednesday, February 5th. Finally, Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $220.00 price target on shares of Alphabet in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, fourteen have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $209.13.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Kavitark Ram Shriram sold 37,134 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, December 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.02, for a total transaction of $6,870,532.68. Following the transaction, the director now owns 282,832 shares in the company, valued at approximately $52,329,576.64. This represents a 11.61 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Ruth Porat sold 17,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.48, for a total value of $3,245,761.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 1,449,286 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $265,914,995.28. This represents a 1.21 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 134,309 shares of company stock worth $25,057,490. Corporate insiders own 12.99% of the company’s stock.

Alphabet Trading Up 1.2 %

GOOG opened at $172.22 on Friday. Alphabet Inc. has a twelve month low of $131.55 and a twelve month high of $208.70. The company has a fifty day moving average of $192.17 and a 200-day moving average of $177.65. The stock has a market cap of $2.10 trillion, a PE ratio of 21.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.00. The company has a quick ratio of 1.84, a current ratio of 1.84 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.03.

Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOG) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 4th. The information services provider reported $2.15 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.12 by $0.03. Alphabet had a return on equity of 32.49% and a net margin of 28.60%. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Alphabet Inc. will post 8.89 EPS for the current year.

Alphabet Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, March 17th. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 10th will be paid a $0.20 dividend. This represents a $0.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, March 10th. Alphabet’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 9.94%.

About Alphabet

Alphabet Inc offers various products and platforms in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, the Asia-Pacific, Canada, and Latin America. It operates through Google Services, Google Cloud, and Other Bets segments. The Google Services segment provides products and services, including ads, Android, Chrome, devices, Gmail, Google Drive, Google Maps, Google Photos, Google Play, Search, and YouTube.